Typically, a user of a wireless device such as a cellular telephone, a pager, and a combined personal digital assistant (PDA)/phone are notified when the wireless device receives incoming calls, new voicemails, or new text messages. For example, the wireless device may ring to alert the user of an incoming call. The wireless device may also display an icon such as an envelope to represent a new message. Other examples of notifications of an incoming call and/or a new message include flashing a light or changing the color of the display (e.g., from gray-scale to blue electroluminescent). In fact, the user may set the type of notification provided by the wireless device for incoming calls, new voicemails and/or new text messages. For example, the user may set the wireless device to ring different tones. Further, the user may even set the wireless device to vibrate so that the wireless device may discreetly notify the user of an incoming call. Even with all the different notifications provided by the wireless device, the user may initiate a communication session with another party or respond to a communication from another party without any prior knowledge of the status, communication capability, and preference of that party. For example, a wireless device user may not be notified when a contact listed in the phonebook of the wireless device is unavailable. In another example, the user may not know whether the sender of a text message is still online so that they may participate in a chat session. Moreover, a wireless device user may not be notified of the preference of another party. For example, that party may be out of town and wish to communicate via e-mail rather than by voice service to avoid roaming charges. However, the user may not be notified of that party's preference.
One aspect of designing a wireless device is to maximize convenience for the user. In particular, the user should be able to easily determine if another party is available to participate in a communication session and/or the preference of that party for the communication session. Therefore, a need exist for a wireless device to notify the user of the presence information associated with another party and to establish a communication interface for a communication session between the user and that party based on that information.